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Pete Sandidge (Spencer Tracy) is the reckless pilot of a North American B-25 Mitchell bomber flying out of England during World War II. [N 1] He is in love with Women Airforce Service Pilot Dorinda Durston (Irene Dunne), a civilian pilot ferrying aircraft across the Atlantic. [N 2] "Nails" Kilpatrick (James Gleason), Pete's commanding officer, first transfers Pete and his crew to a base in Scotland and then offers him a transfer back to America to be a flying instructor. Dorinda has a feeling that Pete's "number is up" and begs him to accept. Pete agrees, but goes out on one last mission with his best friend Al Yackey (Ward Bond) to check out a German aircraft carrier.[N 3] Wounded after an attack by an enemy fighter, Pete has his crew bail out before bombing the ship and crashing into the sea.

Pete then finds himself walking in clouds, where he first recognizes an old friend, Dick Rumney (Barry Nelson). Suddenly becoming ill-at-ease after remembering that Dick went down with his aircraft in a fiery crash, Pete says, "either I'm dead or I'm crazy." Dick answers, "You're not crazy." Dick ushers Pete to a meeting with "The General" (Lionel Barrymore) who gives him an assignment. He is to be sent back to Earth, where a year has elapsed, to pass on his experience and knowledge to dilettante Ted Randall (Van Johnson), first in flight school, then as a Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter pilot in the south Pacific. Ted's commanding officer turns out to be Al Yackey.

The situation becomes complicated when Ted meets the still-grieving Dorinda. Al encourages Dorinda to give the young pilot a chance. The pair gradually fall in love; Ted proposes to her and she accepts, much to Pete's jealous dismay.

When Dorinda finds out from Al that Ted has been given an extremely dangerous assignment to destroy the largest Japanese ammunition dump in the Pacific, she steals his aircraft. Pete guides her in completing the mission and returning to the base to Ted's embrace. Pete accepts what must be and walks away, his job done.

The movie introduced Van Johnson in his first major role. When the filming was partially completed in 1943, Johnson was in a serious automobile accident. The crash lacerated his forehead and damaged his skull so severely doctors inserted a plate in his head. Tracy convinced MGM to suspend filming until Johnson could return to work, which he did after four months of recovery. He then went on to become a major star. Because the movie was filmed before and after the accident, Johnson can be seen without and then with the forehead scars he had carried ever since.[5]

One of the other reasons Johnson was allowed to stay was because a deal was made that Spencer Tracy and director Victor Fleming had to stop making Irene Dunne's life miserable on set. Although she had been excited to work with Tracy, the two took an instant dislike to her and endlessly teased her, sometimes driving her to tears. The deal was made and Dunne and Tracy took the extra time caused by Johnson's recovery to re-shoot some of the scenes where their tension was noticeable. [5]

Although the film was shot in wartime, budget restrictions precluded location shooting and all the flying scenes were staged at the MGM Studios. For an air of authenticity, footage shot at various United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) bases throughout the United States was incorporated via an exterior backdrop process.[6] Authentic aircraft were used, although they remained firmly on the ground. The pivotal scene with Irene Dunne flying a Lockheed P-38 Lightning was recreated at Drew Field, Florida, utilizing a surplus P-38E which had been acquired from the USAAF, where it had been used as an instructional aircraft. Electric motors drove the propellers and allowed for an authentic run-up sequence.[5] The miniature work was the product of the same MGM special effects team of A. Arnold Gillespie, Donald Jahrus and Warren Newcombe that would later be responsible for Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944).[7]

The film premiered at the Astor Theater in New York on 23 December 1943 to generally positive reviews.[5]Life Magazine summed up the critical reaction: "MGM's A Guy Named Joe manages to remain strong and exciting despite such weaknesses as verbiosity and a climax that is pure 'Perils of Pauline'."[5]Bosley Crowther of The New York Times considered it "a tricky excursion into metaphysical realms." that almost comes off.[8]

^A technical error by the writers involves the fact that no USAAF B-25 units were ever assigned to the United Kingdom during World War II.

^A technical error by the writers involves the use of women civilian pilots in that no U.S. female aircraft ferry pilots flew at any overseas locations. They were restricted to the continental United States, (the 48 states only).

^A technical error by the writers involves the use of a German aircraft carrier. The only German aircraft carrier was the Graf Zeppelin; keel laid December 26, 1936, launched in 1938, but not completed and never put into service. [3]